The recent spate of agitation over the Hijab or Burkha as a
religio-cultural essential garment to be worn by girls and women following the
dictums of Islam, has gripped the country by storm. It has become a point for
discussions and debate on the television media; an opportunity to political
leaders to maneuver through the elections; a set of trolls on Social Media
voicing their anguish/ their rights/ their discomfort etc etc – infact it
certainly is a war of words that I witness in everywhere be it in while
travelling in a metro, or on train, or at the workplace, or at tea stalls at
the end of the street. Each person has his own views that are floating on lines
of Right to religion or on the lines of appeasement a particular community is
getting or on lines of the voice of majority not being heard etc etc. But
everybody is waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision. What started as a candle
flame has now turned into a wild forest fire, disrupting the very peace in the
minds of people.
While I pondered over the entire situation looking into the events
that unfurled from a simple town of Udupi (known for its brahminical ways of
living, Udupi Hotels known for delivering quality vegetarian food that has the
taste of home, the place where Krishna showed his presence to Kanakadaasa with
absolute no discrimination what so ever … the list pertaining to its history –
spiritual, religious, cultural, educational etc is awesomely endless) and the
agitation spreading across the whole country and beyond. Much so that other
countries (leaders or commoners) are expressing their solidarity to the
agitators and offering advice to our countrymen on how to deal with this
situation. Well, I am not here to do a post mortem of the entire issue, but I am
here to share a view to the entire world from the perspective of a common man,
a working corporate person and an educationist which perhaps allows all to look
at blind side that has evaded the students & all others involved in it till
now.
When we look through the eye piece of a COMMON MAN, it should be understood that he is looking at a fully safe and
secure environs for him to lead his life. He also needs to have a peaceful
possession and rightful use of his property (in-case he leases it out to anyone
or lives there himself). He is also concerned on the unidentifiable and
unscrupulous people vandalizing his property or causing grievous harm to the
life and livelihood of him and his family too. There are many elderly whose
children stay in a different place or a different country – the children are
constantly concerned on how his elderly parents are – their safety, their
health, their well-being and their day to day activities to ensure this they
set up CCTV cameras or equipment within and outside their house to monitor all
alleviate their fears and concerns regarding their parents. Some also go to the
extent of involving a beat police to have rounds to ensure that their parents
are safe, alive and peacefully living. In-fact as per Article 21 of the Indian
Constitution Right to Life - Protection of Life and Personal Liberty is a
Fundamental Right that is most
essential and of paramount importance to any person so that that person is
capable of enjoying the other fundamental rights – in simple terms The RIGHT TO LIFE
means the person has the right to live his life without fear, injury and
without any external danger. Even the individual himself does not possess the
right to take away his own life. It is hear that I wish to bring
to the sane thinking of the agitators –
1.
Will you feel secure when any person knocks your
door or enters your property completely covered– head, face to toes are covered
and wishes to enter into your house on any pretext?
2.
In-case an untoward incident happens with you or
the inmates of your house by some hooded or fully covered miscreants hoodwinking
the security cameras due to the attire worn (can’t identify the people due to
their masks worn on their face or their face & body covered that can also
hide and not show the weapons being carried within the dress). Will it aid in
the investigation of identifying the perpetrators to the crime or committing
the vandalizing acts?
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| Perpetrators are always HOODED !! |
3.
What would happen when untoward incidents such
as kidnapping, chain snatching, robbery or attacks on the life were to happen
to you on the roads or at any places by fully covered & hooded perpetrators
– would you be able to know or identify or recognize the people who have
committed such acts on you? Would you now feel safe to even travel or even go
on your morning walks on the roads?
4.
There are at times when some hate driven minds
or criminal minds stealthily have placed explosives in public places unknown to
the shoppers or people and then it has claimed lives of large numbers. These
criminals to hoodwink the security system can wear face covers and hooded
clothing so as to go scot free and untraced. I expect people to imagine if such
an act of terrorism were to happen to you or your near dear ones who innocently
were there shopping or enjoying the day, what pain would you experience and
believe me the pain will be even more should the perpetrators escape due to
them being unidentifiable? What would you do in such a case what would be your
state of mind?
The PULWAMA issue !!
Should the agitating youngsters attempt to answer the questions
keeping their parents, their near dear ones or themselves on the pedestal, they
will certainly realize what they need. Despite this if they still tread on the
lines of agitation then I wish to quote an old proverb “as you sow, so shall you reap”
– where todays boon (that you think is) should not unfurl into a curse tomorrow
(when you are old). It is therefore imperative for each one of you to sow the
right seeds that strengthen your future safety & security rather than put
your entire survival, livelihood and life in jeopardy or at risk at a later
stage.
Viewing from the CORPORATE PROFESSIONAL’S perspective,
it becomes all the more important to recognize that the corporates are economic
drivers to the nation. They not only produce products and provide services to
the wide public but are also the places where they provide opportunities of
work to those who qualify and deserve. At all times the leaders of the
companies are evaluating options to reduce the cost of production and reach a
stage of nil wastage or zero scrap. A lot of thinking and efforts go into
working towards lowering their costs such that the profit margins can improve.
The profits are then shared with the employees in the form of salary hikes or
perks etc. This is the inside story of the corporates, but off late companies,
organizations, shops/ showrooms and establishments etc have witnessed an
increase in losses due to theft and pilferage. The security guards have had a
harrowing time in nabbing the thieves who under the garb of a customer steal or
loot the products from the establishments. The CCTV footages have also
confirmed that these thieves or looters or robbers are fully masked and covered
from head to toe at the time of the crime. This is not a religious dress that
they wear but a combination of flexible clothing that can help them in their
getaway. Some also use comfortable clothing to hide the stolen articles and
conveniently getaway hoodwinking the guards (but sometimes they are not able to
cheat the cameras that have revealed the crime).
If one were to assess the losses incurred by an establishment such as
shops/ showrooms/ Malls/ other establishments research has revealed that “every
month a store lose between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 Lakh per month to retail theft “and
“India tops the list of the highest number of retail thefts in the world” where
it is also mentioned that “woman outnumber men in this regard”.
Attack on Shop Keeper !!
How much can the HOOD ACCOMMODATE !!
How much can fit under the VEIL!!
Unidentifiable Robbers & Vandals
1.
Now look at the number of retail stores in our
city or state or country can you comprehend the losses that would amount every
year. It will perhaps go in thousands of crores of rupees which can possibly
fund the education of a million unaffordable children. If you were to be a
store owner or an entrepreneur would you absorb the losses of your store
running to such large amounts?
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| LOSSES BY RETAIL THEFT: INDIA TOPS |
2.
In the event of an explosion that would have
ripped through your constructed place can you comprehend the losses – be it
lives of people, be it damage to property, be it the products & goods
destroyed – it would be a multitude of losses that is perhaps hard to
comprehend. Now if you were to be the owner of such an establishment, can you
visualize your helplessness, the pain at the losses staring before you, the
legalities that innocently you will have to face and look at the state of your
mind – that pain, the anguish, the unforgettable memories? How long will you
take to recover?
Whether you are an entrepreneur or the owner of the establishment/ or
stores – corporates seldom allow the thief to getaway but should a thief get
away in any case, the losses due to the theft are recovered from the wages and
salaries of the staff because the stores cannot afford such large losses to be
written-off. Sometimes they get relief from the insurance companies but that
again is relative to the mishap. So the actual sufferer is the employee of the
store/ establishment. The videos herein enclosed could perhaps open your eye of
humaneness such that our country can proudly say “it is a country of honest
customers”.
Life is never complete without education. Education is not just a
fundamental right but it is discipline that helps people evolve into better
human beings. We all send children to schools with a firm belief that it’s a
temple of learning. But are we aware of the efforts invested by the teacher and
the team to make our child a better human being and a worthy individual to the
society. To understand this better it is essential to look from the eyes of the
EDUCATIONIST.
The educationists have the most difficult task of making students understand
what is being taught, assess his retention, evaluate how much of what he learnt
dues the student apply and how positively beneficial is the student to the
society or the corporate world. However a lot happens in the classroom that is
highly physically and mentally stressful to the educationist. It is important
that the agitating students look into these, such that they respect the ways
adopted by the educationists to overcome the difficulties in meeting their
responsibilities.
1.
Face is
the index of the mind – The facial expressions, gestures and body language
of the students are the only sources that communicate whether the student has understood
the topic or the subject. It also communicates the emotional status of the
student which is indicative of the willingness to learn or whether disturbed or
distracted or in doubt or under fatigue which are disablers to learning – the facial
gestures enable the educationist to adopt and change ways in his methodology or
re-teach or explain it in a way understandable to the student. This
maneuverability and flexibility in instantly adopting a teaching methodology
based on the student’s state of mind to receive, accept and understand is not
possible in the event of the student completely covering his face. It would be appropriate to the agitating youngsters to look
at whether they want a teacher to explain the topics to them or be like
information en-screened by Google? By disabling the teacher in adopting
different means to better explain the topic, would it help in your learning or
enhance in your understanding? Due to the corona pandemic when
online classes were in vogue, many parents and students have complained to the
schools to get rid of the online classes as their children are not
understanding as much as they when they were learning in school – this is
evidential for all that is mentioned above as to what was the main disabler. Don’t you people think that it is the right of the teacher to
ensure his students understand the topic or the subject better and one should
not disable him in his duty or responsibility in this regard?
2.
Dealing
with Proxy – Each day the security personnel at the school gates have a
harrowing time in allowing the right students of the school to get into the
campus. To this security guard the face of the Student should match with that
on the identity card so as to enable him to permit the student inside the
campus. It also ascertains whether the student has entered the campus or not or
whether the student has gone out or to find the student (when needed) in the
vast campus. Now to the agitating youngsters –
Identity Issues - How do you understand Gender & Deal with Proxy ???
a)
Is there any
identity other than the FACE OF THE INDIVIDUAL that can help the security guard
to effectively attend to this duty with ease?....
b)
With
a completely covered face and body, should an outsider enter the campus and
create mischief (by causing breakages or theft or molest someone) and get away. Would it be possible to identify the mischief monger in such
cases? Who would get penalized for it? Don’t you think that the security
guard’s job is at stake in the occurrence of such an incident?
c)
In
the event of examinations where students from many colleges come to the school
examination centre, the same issue gets compounded as identity match is
critical to overcome students coming in as proxy or imposters. Can you imagine how difficult it is to the invigilators to
ensure that the right student is writing the exam? If you are the invigilator
in such a centre would you allow a student who comes completely covered to
write the exam when he refuses to remove his face cover to prove his identity
on the Identity card?
d)
In
the classroom too some students are so loyal to their friends that they give
proxy attendance to the student who is absent. What can
the teacher in such an event do when a section of the students are covered up?
Would it be possible to identify the gender of the student sitting in the class
dressed in completely covered attire that hides his face?
3.
Any educational institution is a place for
people from all religion, caste, creed and economic status to come under one
roof and get educated without any discrimination. It becomes all the more
mandatory for every student to accept and respect each other from whatever the socio-religious-
economic-cultural status other classmates come from. This means that students
who may be Sanatanis, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Parsees etc
share the same platform by respecting each other’s beliefs, their practices,
their following etc without any regret or remorse. It is therefore pertinent here for the
agitating students seeking to look into this aspect very carefully before
a)
If
allowed to wear HIJAB permitted by
the educational institution implementing the rule as per law or as an
implementer of secular institution then the institution should equally respect
and accept another student who is from another religion following the
principles of Digambara Jainism – will you
comfortably without any opposition accept them to be attending and sitting in
your class and respect their belief, culture and right to adhere and follow the
dictums of their religion?
b)
There are children coming from other tribal
areas who have their own customary attire to wear – As an
educational institution head would you permit them in their attire to be seated
in the same class of a multitude tribes who vehemently stress on their Right to
freedom of religion that allows them to practice and propagate what they
believe in & follow OR will you specify on uniformity where you will stand
by equality?
It is time that the students from the agitating or non-agitating
groups to seriously look at each of the situations mentioned above and ponder
over the answers to the questions posed. This is because at some point of your
life you will be playing the three roles and will come across such situations
where you will have to look not only at is right for you but also what is right
to others too. It is high time that each student realizes that RIGHT TO
RELIGION is to ensure that you elevate spiritually and RIGHT TO EDUCATION is to
ensure that you earn a good livelihood. When one uses both these rights in a
manner it should then he will definitely become an ENLIGHTENED HUMAN-BEING.
Looking at another view point, HEALTH is seldom
looked at by people these days and these youngsters too are not serious about
it. In-fact vitamins are critical to good health and their deficiency can cause
a lot of health issues some of which may not be reversible. Among all those
vitamins there is one which helps in regulating the amount of calcium and phosphorus
in the body. This vitamin is extremely essential to keep the
bones, teeth and muscles healthy. Its deficiency can be very disastrous to the
body which can result in bone loss or cancer or depression or cardiovascular
disease or multiple sclerosis or type 2 diabetes or a combination of all these.
This nutrient is VITAMIN D which is absorbed by the body from to
exposure to sunlight. This is the safest way and the least expensive way of
obtaining Vitamin D – research has inferred that many around the world are
deficient in Vitamin D due to non-exposure of the body to the sun which is
least expensively available. They are indeed required to take Vitamin D
supplement that is expensive and pinches the pocket. This is another reason
that completely covered bodies can make your body deficient of this vitamin
that can hamper your growth and health as well.
By bringing the entire system to a standstill and also bring the
country on its knees is not a great achievement it only points at the lacunae
in looking at the big picture and flawed thinking in looking at universal good.
Bharat has always given enough space and comfort for each religion of foreign
origin; followers of different cultures & tradition; and people from all
walks of life to thrive and lead a worthy life. Bharat understands the need for
tolerance and has since time immemorial stood living & breathing with
tolerance. It also says that vested interests emerge from insecurity in their
minds and these vested interests are never universal in bringing good and
happiness to others. It is high time that the educators should learn to reason
out with students to avoid the candle sized flame into becoming a forest fire.
Just by posing their difficulties as educators, corporates and common man could
have diffused the young minds from such agitation and through press releases
the educators could have prevented the hijack of the young minds by some groups
who are uncomfortable with peaceful coexistence. Well, I guess that is what the
responsibility of the educators is – educate all towards universal good.
It is time that the leaders irrespective of any regional or national
political parties, to start looking beyond boundaries of their personal gain
& myopic growth/ myopic benefit; but focus on bigger achievements that lay
a firm foundation for universal betterment. As leaders representing the people
you have a greater responsibility to look and study from the eyes of the common
man, the corporates, the students or customers and from the health perspectives
too. It would be wise for the leadership at all levels to refrain from poisoning
young minds with motives that can be impediment to the growth of the youngsters
and the future of the nation – because you need to understand todays youngsters
will be benefactors tomorrow of what we create today or what we sow today – AS
YOU SOW SO SHALL YOU REAP. So let’s sow the right seeds and groom visionaries
to make us proud.
NOTE:
** The videos have been from the collection received via the social media
** Courtesy Pictures have been taken without any ulterior motive but to bring clarity to the points :-
Delmarvanow.com (masked gunman tie up bank staff);; fbi.gov; 6abc.com;
Istockphoto.com (256 Bank robbers mask);
wtol.com (Toledo); shutterstock.com (bank robbers putting their masks on) timesnownews.com (Mirror Now News Tamilnadu); horrorhomeroom.com;
